Prehistory 101: Ichthyosaurs

Prehistory 101: Ichthyosaurs

Meaning "fish lizard" in Greek, the aptly-named ichthyosaur once dominated the world's oceans for millions of years. Learn about these prehistoric marine reptiles and see how features, such as basketball-sized eyes and a vertical tail, helped the ichthyosaur secure a place at the top of the ancient food chain.

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Related Resources

Dinosaurs gambol and charge through our imagination as scaly reptilian creatures with menacing teeth, claws, spikes, and hammering, bony bulbs. They roamed Earth roughly 175 million years ago, and most were wiped out by an extinction event roughly 65 million years ago. Thanks to ongoing scientific research, we continue to revise our theories about how dinosaurs evolved, what they ate, and how they moved through their environments. Read about the latest discovery in National Geographic’s Science article: Bizarre Spinosaurus Makes History as First Known Swimming Dinosaur.

Related Resources

Dinosaurs gambol and charge through our imagination as scaly reptilian creatures with menacing teeth, claws, spikes, and hammering, bony bulbs. They roamed Earth roughly 175 million years ago, and most were wiped out by an extinction event roughly 65 million years ago. Thanks to ongoing scientific research, we continue to revise our theories about how dinosaurs evolved, what they ate, and how they moved through their environments. Read about the latest discovery in National Geographic’s Science article: Bizarre Spinosaurus Makes History as First Known Swimming Dinosaur.